HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHIC DETERMINATION OF THE MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING CONTRAST AGENT GADOBENATE ION IN PLASMA, URINE, FECES, BILE AND TISSUES

The gadobenate ion is an intravascular paramagnetic contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. An HPLC method for assaying gadobenate io n in plasma, urine, faeces, bile and tissue samples is described. The analysis is based on the reversed-phase chromatographic separation of gadobenate ion from the endogenous components of biological matrices a nd detection by UV absorption at 210 nm. The selectivity of the method was satisfactory. The mean absolute recovery was greater than 95%. Th e precision and accuracy of the analytical methods were in the range 0 .1-6.5% and -12 to +9.3%, respectively. The detection limits in plasma (0.1 ml), urine (0.05 ml), dried faeces (200 mg suspended in 4 ml wat er), bile (0.5 ml), and dried liver tissue (100 mg suspended in 1 ml w ater) were, respectively, 0.24, 0.47, 2.6, 0.63 and 2.8 nmol ml(-1) (c orresponding to 0.16, 0.31, 1.7, 0.42 and 1.9 mu g ml(-1)). (C) 1998 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.